‘Sweet Home Alabama’ tops road trip song list, study says

December 16, 2022

Land Line Staff

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Turn it up! “Sweet Home Alabama” tops the list of most-played road trip songs, according to a study of Spotify playlists released by Confused.com.

The study researched hundreds of playlists in 15 countries for favorite road trip songs. “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd appeared on eight of the top 10 tracks. The song, released in 1974, was the band’s highest-charting single at No. 8 on the Billboard Top 100.

“Hotel California” by the Eagles is the No. 2 road trip song in the U.S., according to the survey. The song was released in 1977 and peaked at No. 1.

Rounding out the top three is Don McLean’s 1971 hit “American Pie.” It sat on the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Top 100 for four weeks in early 1972.

The rest of the Top 10 road trip songs in the U.S. according to Confused.com are:

  • “Born in the U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen
  • “Take It Easy,” 2013 Remastered by the Eagles
  • “Life is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts
  • “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey
  • “Californication” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
  • “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver
  • “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf.

Singing and distracted driving

Seems like every distracted study that comes out sounds like your dad teaching you to drive. “Both hands on the wheel at 10 and 2” (It’s actually now on opposite sides because of air bags, but we digress). “Eyes on the road.” “Turn the radio off.”

Turns out that last piece of advice might not be quite so accurate.

According to a 2021 study, Analysis of Naturalistic Driving Data to Assess Distraction and Drowsiness in Drivers of Commercial Motor Vehicles, by the U.S. Department of Transportation singing and talking actually reduce the risk of distracted driving.

“Some tasks were found to increase safety risks while others reduced it. In general, safety-improving tasks involved mental or physical activity (e.g., speaking on a hands-free device or to a passenger, singing along to music) but did not encumber a driver’s hands or take their eyes off the roadway,” a brief on the study states.

Turns out one of those “physical activity” categories that was found to reduce distracted driving was “simulated ‘dancing’ while in the driver’s seat.”

While that all makes some sense, we’re going to bet that that scene from “Wayne’s World” probably wasn’t what the researchers were talking about. LL

Editor’s note: Thinking of road trip music, we would be remiss if we didn’t share a favorite trucking song, Convoy. RIP Bill Fries, aka C.W. McCall.